Treasury Report Makes Economic Case for Higher Education

06/22/2012

A new analysis released Thursday by the U.S. Treasury Department, produced in tandem with the Education Department, calls higher education “an important driver of economic mobility” that is vital to economic growth and competitiveness. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the report found that in 2011, median weekly earnings were 64 percent higher for a full-time, full-year bachelor’s degree holder than they were for a high-school graduate. And the report found that a college degree promotes intergenerational mobility: Without a degree, children born to parents in the lowest income bracket have a 45-percent chance of staying there as adults. With a degree, they have less than a 20-percent chance of remaining there, the report found.